Abstract
While an imaging technique by two- photon or multi- photon excitation fluorescence microscopy to depict, for example, a microglial process in the micron order is referred as an in vivo imaging of microglia, in vivo molecular imaging of microglia may be defined as a technique that enables to illustrate microglial activation by tagging a specific tracer on the proteins that develop in microglial cells during their activation. The latter method is advantageous in terms of no invasiveness to the brain and easy applicability to the human despite far lower spatial resolution than the in vivo imaging. In this article, neuroinflammation - related brain pathophysiology in dementia and neuropsychiatric disorders is described by citing the findings from positron emission tomography (PET) or a first- runner in vivo molecular imaging method using translocator protein (TSPO) tracers.
